LEDGER OF BETRAYAL
Freya
Tamsin circles me with a wooden staff in her hands. “Feet apart. Chin high. Don’t look timid,” she says.
“I’m not timid,” I retort, lifting my staff.
She lunges fast. I barely block the impact. My arms vibrate with pain. With a growl, I lunge at her, skidding her feet back against the ground.
“You’re angry,” she says. “Good. Use it. Anger makes you move.”
I swing—harder this time. She parries easily, but her grin sharpens. “Better.”
We clash again. My arms ache, my palms sting, but Nyx breathes under my skin, feeding me strength. Every strike I miss, I curse. Every strike I land, even half-right, I let the fury in my chest burn brighter.
When she finally calls halt, sweat drips into my eyes. “You see?” she says. “You fight better furious than meek.”
I lean on the staff, panting. “I thought Lunas were meant to be graceful.”
“They are,” she says dryly. “Grace is just dominance wearing perfume. Now drink.”
I drain the waterskin she tosses me. My entire body trembles.
“Next—etiquette,” she says.
I groan. “After this?”
“Yes. You’ll face the Conclave soon. They’ll look for cracks. Every bow, every word matters.”
She marches me into the small hall. We practice curtsies, greetings, the way to take a seat without lowering my gaze. She slaps my shoulder each time I falter. “Again. Keep your spine straight.”
I repeat until my legs ache more than from sparring.
At last, she nods. “Not perfect. But you’ll do.”
◆◆◆
Back in my chamber, I almost collapse on the bed with exhaustion—only to stiffen when the door opens.
Alpha Kade marches inside. His gaze sweeps the room and catches on the sapphire crown lying across my quilt. His jaw tightens. “I commanded you not to wear it, Freya,” he says. “And yet you did.”
I fold my arms. “It is mine. I can wear it if I wish to.”
His golden eyes flash with anger. “You defied a direct order.”
“Your order,” I bite back. “Not the Moon’s.”
“I am your Alpha! And I’m your husband!”
I scoff. “My husband?” I whisper the words. “You haven’t been mine for a long time, Kade.”
He swallows at that.
I shake my head. “Actually, I can’t remember the last time you were in my chamber.”
For a breath, silence stretches. My mind betrays me—remembering the night of the full moon, when his wolf had found mine in the woods. The gentleness. The nuzzle. The way it almost felt like care. Why? I shake the thought away.
“You shouldn’t have disobeyed me like that, Freya. I let you keep the crown, didn’t I?” He steps closer. “Why did you fire the head housekeeper?”
I glance up at him and study the face I long suspected of weakening me. Even now that I know the truth, there’s no relief in me. Just a numb sensation. But I can finally tell him.
“Because she was poisoning me.” My voice breaks on the words, but I push on. “On Izel’s orders… she had been slipping silverdew into my food. Izel’s a witch, Kade. She’s been using glamours—”
His face hardens like stone. “Enough.”
My chest heaves with a heavy breath, tears pricking the corners of my eyes. “It’s the truth, Kade. She’s been trying to muzzle my wolf. If I hadn’t found out—I could be dead in a few days.”
“You accuse the lady of this house without proof?” His tone sharpens, full Alpha now. “You shame yourself.”
Of course, I knew he wouldn’t believe me.
My tears, my pain are nothing to him. The humiliation I feel fades and anger bursts hot in my chest. When he turns to leave, I grab his arm.
The bond sparks under my palm, that familiar current trickling between us.
His body goes still. I, on the other hand, am overtaken by the urge to move closer to him, to his scent. But I hold back.
“You saw me in the woods that night. Near the stream,” I whisper.
“Did you never wonder why Emris couldn’t sense Nyx for six years?
I told you what I thought it was—grief. My mother’s death.
Finn’s birth—you know how painful it was.
I nearly died, Kade. You held me.” I shake my head, knowing I’m trailing off point.
“But did you never think something else was at play? Something unnatural? I was weak. But can’t you feel the power in me now? ”
The word High Luna hovers on my tongue, but I swallow it back.
“It’s because I’m no longer eating at the table where I was being served poisoned food. And I’ve been taking antidotes regularly. I’ve been getting stronger.”
His eyes drop to my hand gripping his arm. When they lift, softened for one fleeting heartbeat, I almost forget to breathe.
Then he jerks away. “Don’t touch me,” he barks, and strides out.
The chamber is silent again, heavy with his absence.
I drop to my knees in defeat, and then scream in anger.
I let myself look weak in front of him. If he cared, even a little, he wouldn’t be with her.
If he cared, he’d think twice before calling me a liar.
It’s true. He hasn’t been mine for a long time.
A shadow flutters at the window.
The raven lands on the sill, claws tapping wood. A thick scrap of parchment is tied to its leg. I walk to it, my legs heavy after the conversation with my unfaithful husband. I untie the parchment with trembling fingers.
Proof enclosed. Izel bought silverdew from a coven in the Ashen Market. Use it well.
Another sheet, rolled inside the parchment, falls into my lap. I unfurl it. A ledger, marked with Izel’s name, a witch’s sigil, and the dates and amounts of poison.
My hands shake. I have proof.
Nyx growls inside me, fierce with satisfaction.